Snapped Wires
by WhatNames
Summary: *Major Spoiler Alert* Vanellope is the ruler of Sugar Rush. That is, until an unknown invader decides to mess with the code. What happens when a certain candied king comes to town? Pre-movie
1. Chapter 1

**Snapped Wires**

**_Chapter One_**

The racers zoomed around the corner, coming in for the home stretch. Eager fans leaned forward, cheering on their favorite racers. The roar was deafening, but the competitors didn't seem to notice as they jockeyed for the lead position. The two girls were bumper to bumper, smirking at each other, and trying to outmaneuver the other before she got the upper-hand. The girl with the teal and white racing suit stomped on the accelerator, shooting forward at the last second with a cheer that was drowned out by her fans: "Vanellope! Va-nel-lo-pe! Vanellope!" they chanted as she was stepped onto the rising platform to receive her trophy. It was the last race of their first day plugged in and each of the racers had been played at least once. Vanellope kept waving and held her grateful pose atop the pedestal until the owner of the arcade, Mr. Litwak, called to the players to end their games. The lights in the arcade flickered off and a call came from a machine out of sight; "All clear!"

Sighing happily, Vanellope waited for the platform to lower before she stepped off to congratulate her subjects. "Princess, princess!" the girl she had been tied with until the very end of the race ran up to her, her hair swirling wildly around her head. Her name was something like 'Mullberry Tuttonfridge'. Vanellope would never remember these names. Probably because she had just learned them this morning, along with her own, Princess Vanellope Von Schweetz. It had a nice ring to it. "Oh Princess!" Vanellope smiled at her fellow racer. "Yes, uh…" The other racer gave her a quick bow and smiled. "Taffyta Muttonfudge!" She chirped. "You were amazing!" she said excitedly. "I hope you can teach me how to save that last boost. That was sweet!" A blonde boy came up next to Taffyta and added, "Smooth as peanut butter!" The comely boy was very excited to see the princess. Vanellope noticed how cute he looked with his perfectly groomed hair, the race hadn't blown it into a funny looking halo like Taffyta's, but she had royal duties to attend to and couldn't let her mind wander. She gave the creamy peanut butter themed boy a quick confused glance before she snapped back to reality. "Thank you very much, Francis." She could have sworn that his smile faltered for a second, but it was so quick that she couldn't be certain. "Rancis," he corrected. "Rancis Fluggerbutter." He smiled broadly. "Of course, of course," she responded.

As the princess began to walk back to her sugary white cart she seemed to have an idea. "Rancis, Taffyta," the two racers turned around, "Yes your majesty?" She gave them a cheeky grin. "Tell everyone to meet in the castle as soon as possible. I have a surprise for all of you." Her two subjects shared an excited look and then rushed off to tell the others. _I hope they like it…_ Vanellope mused. _Of course they'll like it. I'm their princess!_ She reassured herself. She hopped into her cart and zoomed away to the castle.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Greeting/Note: Hello! I kind of forgot to say that on my first chapter... *noob* Anyway, this is a fic set before Wreck-it Ralph, if you didn't already figure that one out. It all takes place in Sugar Rush, so no cameos! At least not until I reach the movie, which may be a ways away. Getting back to the story; I may have a couple ships in here, no slash, but ships nonetheless! Feel free to leave suggestions in the reviews, this is a work-in-progress type of a story! Also, I have published this on three other sites, so if you find them all I may have to give you a virtual hug... On with the story! Don't forget to read, review, and enjoy!_

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Looming over her cart was her glorious white castle. Vanellope raced up the checkerboard path that led to the towering pillars. She drove her cart off the main path and guided it along the semi-precarious side path that led to the throne room. It was only semi-precarious because it was no problem for her, but she knew in her code that only the most skilled drivers could make their way along the sloping track. Her cart zoomed into her throne room and the princess drove it in circles until she was just lined up with the oddly shaped backing and parked it just inside, forming a throne fit for a king! _Well, a princess._ She giggled to herself. Two of her advisors, Sour Bill and Sweet Martha, rushed up to her as soon as she had parked.

The circular duo bowed deeply. Sour Bill was a green candy and Sweet Martha was a pink candy. Both of the round servants had floating hands and feet, which was a mystery that Vanellope never hoped to solve, and were very loyal to their ruler. Vanellope had also noticed how each only seemed to have two expressions. Sour Bill's were hassled, which was a mixture of confused, annoyed, and flustered, or surprised. Sweet Martha's were flamboyantly happy or worried. When they were together they seemed to finish each other's sentences and expressions. Neither one seemed complete without the other. In fact, Vanellope had only seen them apart once.

Sweet Martha smiled at the princess as Sour Bill helped her out of her cart. "Is everything all ready?" Smiling giddily, the round servant nearly jumped up and down with excitement. "Yes, yes, your majesty, everything is set for your subjects!" Vanellope smiled, "Well then let's see!" She strode down a hall which opened to a huge room. The ceiling was so high that you nearly couldn't see it yet somehow the servants had managed to decorate it with pink, teal, and white ribbons. Her royal highness was grinning broadly. As magnificent as the room was, Vanellope wasn't smiling over the decorations. She was staring at the table in the center of the room. It was round and at each seat was a decorated card with each racer's name and colors on it. "Bill made the cards himself!" Vanellope turned around with a surprised expression. "Really?" Sour Bill blushed and shuffled his feet. "Well, yes. I thought you might like them…" Vanellope looked down at the flustered servant, "Are you kidding? I love them!" She leaned down and gave her advisor a quick kiss on the top of his head. "Thank you SB." The little green candy didn't know what to say as his blush grew redder.

Revving engines could be heard in the throne room. "It sounds like the other racers are here your majesty!" Vanellope skipped down the hall. "Let's go!" she called over her shoulder. She entered the throne room to see that all the racers had come like she had asked. They had gotten out of their carts and were standing in a cluster in the middle of the very pink room. Gloyd saw the princess first and elbowed the Swizz. He looked up and all of the racers quick assembled into a sugary line. "We're here like you asked," Taffyta said, gesturing with her pink lollipop. Vanellope smiled. "_Where does she even keep those?"_ the princess thought to herself. Not being able to hold it in, Rancis blurted, "What's the surprise Vanellope?" The other racers gave him a quick mixture of looks and turned back to the princess. All she did was smile wider. "Follow me!"

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_And that is all you get for now! If I didn't cut it off there it might have gone on quite a bit... Ah well, c'est la vie! Don't forget to review!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Me again! Big surprise, right? I apologize for not updating! My wifi hasn't been working and my laptop is blocking FF. In response to the review: Maaayyyybbeee... :3 Here's the next 'chapter'! And just to let everyone know, I have around 5k written out so far, but publishing them is another issue entirely... Here's numero tres!_

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**Chapter 3**

The princess quickly turned around and disappeared down the hallway. Stunned for a moment, the racers just stood there. Then Jubileena ran after their princess. "Race you!" she yelled, laughing as the rest of the racers tried to catch up with her. Her red pigtails were bouncing up and down until she came to an abrupt halt, causing the others to crash into her and topple over. "Hey! What's the hold up?" Minty hollered from under Adorabeezle. Jubileena, who somehow had managed not to fall over, pointed. "Look." The other nine managed to get back up to their feet and looked at the dazzling room. Vanellope grinned from her seat. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

While Vanellope had been greeting the others, some of the royal candy servants had brought out, what else, candy! Trays and bowls and platters of candy from all over Sugar Rush! The ten little racers ran to their name cards and sat down, quickly devouring everything on the table. "Candlehead…" Snowanna giggled beside the distracted racer, "You weren't supposed to eat the _tray_!" Candlehead looked up. "But it was made out of candy…" Adorabeezle, who was sitting on the other side of the green haired girl, gave her a skeptical look, and then she and Snowanna burst out laughing. "Of course it's made out of candy! Most of your outfit is candy!" The red, white, and blue racer snatched Candlehead's headband, which was brown with pink candles on top. "Hey! Adora, give it back!" Gloyd who had been listening in, grinned and stole it from Adorabeezle. "Why?" He placed it on top of his head. "Look everybody!" The few racers who hadn't been paying attention looked at the trickster. "I'm Candlehead!" Candlehead's face heated up with embarrassment and anger. "Gloyd! Give it back right now!" With that last word, she leaped at him. "Woah!" he yelped, falling over and losing the headband. "Rancis watch out!" The blonde, who had been staring at Vanellope, turned to look just in time to get hit in the face with the flying candles. He fell out of his chair with a thud.

A collective gasp rose up from the assorted racers. Candlehead ran around the table, not to help Rancis, but to find her headband. When she reached the fallen racer, he moaned and rolled over. Candlehead gasped. Rancis had somehow landed right on top of her headband, breaking it in half and snapping all the candles. She gingerly picked up the pieces with tears in her eyes. You could hear a pin drop it was so quiet. "You, you ruined it…" Gloyd came over to the crestfallen girl. "Gee, I'm sorry C-head… I didn't think it would break. I was just—" He was cut off by her tearful glare. "You were just _what_? Just kidding? Just joking? Just _playing around?"_ Not knowing what to say, the brunette just let out a pitiful, "Yes?" Candlhead's face grew cherry red, "Well too bad!" Everyone was stunned by the girl's anger. "Now it's broken!" Taffyta stood up, "It'll just regenerate Candle…" Turning around angrily, she yelled at the well-meaning racer "No it won't! I made it; it's not in the code…" Crumbelina looked at her, confused. "If it's not programmed in, then why is your name Candlehead?" The racer plopped down on the floor with a pout. "That's why I made it. My name doesn't make any sense if I don't have it… I don't even have a coded in candle!" Vanellope stood up from helping Rancis, who had nearly recovered, and cleared her throat. "Ahem, actually, you do…" All the racers stared at her. "I… What?"

Vanellope turned around and waved her teal and white clad arm to bring in Sour Bill and Sweet Martha. "This is the surprise," she let out a small smile. SB and SM opened the doors to let in a small train of servants. Each one was carrying a color-coded package. Each servant stopped in front of one of the racers. "I looked at the code, and it said everyone was supposed to have one." Crumbelina looked at the princess. "Have one what?" Vanellope's smile grew. "Well open yours and find out!" Vanellope watched the others' faces go from confusion, to surprise, to delight. "It's a candle!" Candlehead hollered above the others. She held up her gift. It was a brown helmet with pink icing and a candle was perched right on top. The other racers looked at it mystified for a moment, then quickly ripped through the rest of the wrapping paper on their gifts. Candlehead stared at the glowing flame on her helmet. "Don't you want to try it on?" Vanellope asked. Looking up, Candlehead started to come back to reality. "Try on it…?" She suddenly realized that she wasn't making any sense. "Oh right, of course!" She stared at the cake-themed helmet in her hands and pulled it onto her head. Gloyd looked up at the thrilled racer. "Now you really are a candle head!" Vanellope bit her lip to stop from laughing. Candlehead pointed at the helmet in Gloyd's hands. "Look who's talking, pumpkin head!" He smiled, "Flame brain!" "Spook shoes!" "Cake lake!" "That one doesn't even make sense!" Candlehead laughed.

Vanellope, seeing that the helmets repaired the quarrel between the racers, let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Phew." Sweet Martha walked over to the pint-sized princess. "Are you ready for the Random Roster Race?" she asked serenely. Vanellope nodded at the pink servant who gestured to Sour Bill. He walked up next to the princess. "You might want to cover your ears, your highness." As Vanellope raised her hands to the sides of her head, SB let out an earsplitting whistle. The racers looked up at the green servant. "Princess Von Schweetz would now like to commence with the Random Roster Race." They murmured to each other, "What's a random roster race?" Vanellope skipped back to the throne room, yelling over her shoulder, "Race you!" The other children gave chase. SB and SM shared a look. _All these kids can think about is racing and candy!_ Which made sense, but this was getting ridiculous! They rushed after their ruler and her friends.

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I hope you liked it! Don't forget to review!


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: I'm sorry for the delay guys. I'm having some serious problems IRL at the moment, so it's hard to keep up with my stories. I would fill you in, but this chapter makes me very happy, so here goes something!_

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**Chapter 4**  
Vanellope was standing in front of her throne when the two servants came in. "And that's how we choose the nine racers for the next day!" Taffyta looked worried. "Why can't we just all race together like we did today?" Vanellope blinked. "Well, um, I… Hold on I think there's a rulebook in my room. I'll be right back!" Sweet Martha stepped in her path, "No need princess, I'll get it for you!" Vanellope gave her a stern look. "Do you know where it is?" SM blinked. "Well I suppose not." "So you see the problem," Vanellope said cheekily. SM's happy expression changed to her worried expression. "If I may accompany you, your majesty…" she said hesitantly. "I wouldn't have it any other way," Vanellope responded, and walked past her servant. "Of course," the pink servant replied, blinking, and hurried after her.  
As Vanellope opened the door to her room, something felt… Off. As she stepped inside, blue pixilation ripped through her body and she screamed. "Vanellope?!" Sweet Martha came running. "Are you alri—" her question was cut short as she took in Vanellope's appearance. "What are you wearing?" Vanellope looked down at her outfit. Instead of her teal and white racing suit she was wearing her princess dress, but it wasn't her normal princess dress. Her normal princess dress was pink, very very pink. This was teal and white like her racing attire. Her eyes widened and she looked up at her round servant. "Martha… What's happening?" SM's face scrunched up into a worried expression. "I don't know dear, maybe the system is still acclimating…?" she trailed off. "Well we had better get back to my friends," the young ruler mumbled. She tried to stand up, but instead she tumbled toward the floor and would have landed face-first if Sweet Martha hadn't caught her. "Whatever," SM gestured at the new outfit with her free hand, "This, is, it has obviously weakened you. Maybe you should sit down." Vanellope waved her off. "No, I, I have to tell my subjects. Just in case they're affected too." SM helped her out of her room, neither of them noticing that someone had been rifling through the princess's belongings.  
Halfway down the hall, Vanellope sucked in her breath. "What's wrong princess?" SM asked. "I think I need to sit down for a moment," she trailed off and leaned against the wall. "Oooh, something feels really really wrong," she shut her eyes tight, "I can feel it in my code," her eyes flew open, "The code! Martha, tell Sour Bill to check the code vault." SM's brow furrowed. "Are you sure your majesty? You don't seem to be in the best condition at the moment. Oh!" Sweet Martha let out a yelp as blue pixels rippled across Vanellope, causing her hair to switch from a tight bun to a ragged ponytail. Her tiara stayed intact. "Oh my! My princess, you really need to –" Vanellope cut her off with a waving hand. "No, Sweet Martha, you need to find Sour Bill and have him check the codes. I just know that's where the problem is. Ah!" Blue numbers mixed with pixels broke out again and Vanellope gave SM a hard look. "Go Martha." "But princess," "I said go!" the girl screamed, pixels ripping through her code, tears welling in her eyes. Sweet, sweet Martha stifled a gasp and ran to the throne room. "Please hurry," thought the pixelating princess.

_ɹǝʞɐǝɹq uoıʇɔǝs pɹɐʍʞʍɐ_

The racers were having a contest: Who can hold their breath with jumping up and down on one foot the longest? Minty and the Swizz had beaten everyone else and were trying to stare the other down as they both hopped frantically. "Go Minty!" Snowanna yelled, only to be yelled over by Rancis and Gloyd, "You can do it Swizzle!" None of them noticed the circular pink servant enter and run to her green counterpart. She whispered something to him and his face contorted to horrified surprise. He pointed down the hall and all his close friend could do was nod with hassled worry. The green candy stared at the children, oblivious to the impending danger. He said something hurriedly to his pink companion and rushed behind the throne.

_ɹǝʞɐǝɹq uoıʇɔǝs pɹɐʍʞʍɐ_  
Sour Bill was worried. His face was stuck in stunned surprise. He scrambled to the curtain behind the princess's throne and slipped inside. The code vault was open. He gaped at the unsealed door. This was not right at all… After closer inspection, he saw that a long red candy rope was anchored to the ground with a gumball. His already surprised eyes grew even wider. There was someone inside of the code! He grabbed the rope and pulled at it experimentally. Someone was definitely inside the code. He had to get back to Sweet Martha and the princess, but as he tried to pull away he found out that his hands were stuck. He couldn't call for help, or else the intruder would know he was there, if he didn't already. So all that's left to do… Is watch. He edged closer to the entrance and finally saw the intruder.

ɹ_ǝʞɐǝɹq uoıʇɔǝs pɹɐʍʞʍɐ_

The Swizz was on the ground, his face almost as blue as his outfit, and Minty was standing over him, breathing deeply, but victoriously. "And the winner is…" Snowanna grabbed Minty's hand and held it high, almost above her enormous afro, which now had a pick, well a straw, in it. "Minty Zaki!" All the girls cheered as the boys helped their fallen teammate get back to his feet. "New game!" shouted Gloyd. All the girls turned and looked at him excitedly. "What do you have in mind?" Minty smiled. "How about, uh…" Gloyd looked up at the ceiling, deep in thought, "I got it! Who can surprise Sour Bill?" he snapped his fingers and pointed to the spot the little sourpuss was standing at a moment before. The group turned around, eager to start another game, but then stopped to see that Sweet Martha had taken his spot. "Sweet Martha?" Rancis was confused, "Weren't you with the princess?" Talking over his friend, Gloyd raised his eyebrow at the pink candy "Where's Sour Bill?" he questioned. "Well, ah, um, you see…" The little candy servant seemed more worried than usual. "Spit it out!" Minty commanded.

"Thereseemstobealittlecodingi ssueandVanellopetoldmetotell myBillytocheckthecodesandthe resnothingtoworryaboutreally ." The servant spilled all her worry out in one incomprehensible sentence. The racers were stunned for a moment. They looked at each other, then back to her, and then broke out into a confusing squabble. "Say that again?" "I'm hungry." "Where are the codes?" "Bring back Sour Bill!" "Is the princess alright?" "Do you think I should have won that last game?" "Your Billy?" "Why didn't I get a helmet? I just got a bow…" "What kind of problem?" Overwhelmed by the ten racers and their questions, SM just started stuttering and tried answering all of their questions at once and finally just fell over. The children immediately shut up. The room was quiet for a moment until Candlehead asked, "Is she alright?" Crumbelina walked up to the unconscious adviser. She put her head near the round servant for a moment until SM began to mumble. "Billy watch out there's something… Codes… Vanellope… Look out!" Her face was more worried than anyone had ever seen before. Crumbelina took off her new hat and scratched the top of her head. "Well she isn't dead," she mumbled. Then, before she could finish her amateur diagnosis, Sweet Martha disappeared with a pink flash of pixels.

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_Cliff-hanger, hanging from a cliff! That's why he's called cliff-hanger! Eheheh. I love pre-movie writing because all my headcanons can become reality! *cackles in the corner* It may be a while until I can post the next chapter, so goodbye, farewell, and adieu! (And I hope you like the ɹǝʞɐǝɹq uoıʇɔǝs pɹɐʍʞʍɐ!)_


	5. Chapter 5

_Cliff-hanger! Hanging from a cliff! And that's why I posted the update! Here's the next chapter everyone! (I hope the PoV changes aren't too confusing...)_

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**Chapter 5**

Moments earlier… "Now let's take a look at this…" A voice muttered. A hand tapped on a box labeled Advisor. Code flooded out around the figure, half green, half pink. "Now that's something you don't see every day… Two bodies with two brains sharing the same code box… Let's take a look at this…" Whoever the intruder was, he knew his way around game codes. He picked the two largest boxes. "SB and SM? That's odd… Two halves of the same coin, perhaps?" He opened the green one first. "Loyal to the ruler, often surprised or flustered, green, candy…" His voice trailed off as he read this SB character's stats and description. "Seems alright. Let's look at SM…" His eye's narrowed as he read off the pink candy's stats. "Pink, happy or worried, candy," he chided the pink code box as he read off the last bit of SM's description, "Loyal to Vanellope. Now here's where we must part ways, little SM." He laughed to himself, and ripped out all the pink wires with a mighty pull.

Sour Bill had been watching the strange figure work. The invader had inspected several boxes, examining the wires before laughing and severing them. This is so very, very wrong… The figure swam out of view. SB strained to see the figure, but there was a limit to how far he could move away from his hands. He listened instead. The invader muttered, and then cackled and there was a release of pink energy. Sour Bill stumbled, falling to the ground and twitching. It felt like his heart had been ripped out and run over by all the racers' carts. What was that…? He groaned to himself, horrified to think what had happened. He crawled back up to the entrance and stared at the figure that had just paddled back into view. He was haphazardly snapping wires and reattaching them into different boxes and laughing. All this damage and he's laughing! "Now onto the little princess…" the menace chuckled, swimming to the center of the web and Vanellope's code.

The children gaped at the spot that Sweet Martha had disappeared from. None of the racers were able to speak for a full minute. "What," Taffyta paused, "was that?" Stuttering, Rancis tried to reason out what had happened, "She, she, uh, she said something about codes and then she just disappeared." He couldn't wrap his mind around it. Important characters like sweet little Martha didn't just… "Well, uh, she couldn't just be…gone… Could she?" No one could give him a good answer. They silently stared at the spot where Sweet Martha was a moment before, rooted to where they stood.

"Now little princess, we can't have any of this!" he scolded the code box. There was a lot in here… But he only needed one thing, and nothing would stop him from finding it. He ripped at the various wires, intent to take what he had come for. "Dresses, dresses, dresess!" he growled, ripping them out one by one. "This girl is made of dresses! I've never seen so many costume changes!" He started ripping the clothing choices in bundles. Just as he was about to pull out the last of her outfit options, he saw what he was looking for. "Ah," he said, smiling, "Now here's what I was here for…" He cackled as he slowly reached in to steal the most important piece of the princess's extensive wardrobe.

Vanellope was sitting on the floor, no longer in her teal and white racing attire. She had been switching haphazardly through her entire wardrobe. She didn't even know that most of these outfits existed! Finally, the pixilation halted, and she was dressed in a ratty teal hoodie. The princess looked down at her clothes. "What the doughnut?" She felt the hem of her new peanut butter cup skirt. This was not right. No princess should be dressed like this. No one in Sugar Rush should be dressed like this! "Oh please hurry Sweet Martha," she sobbed, her crown flickering on her head, and then disappearing. Her perfectly placed hair no longer had it's royal topping.

Sour Bill trembled as he watched the invader work. Oh poor Vanellope… How is the princess faring with all this damage to her code? He gaped at the lunatic who ripped out every dress that Vanellope never had the opportunity to wear. Sparks were flying until the man stopped. He plucked the crown right out of her code. It took some wiggling, but it just popped out. He smiled and pulled a small, nearly empty, code box out of his pocket. "Now to give you a better home…" The tiny coded picture containing the royal power shuddered as the blue wires of the unlabeled box tried to connect. "Come on you infernal," The menace let out a string of colorful language that made Sour Bill blush. "Now connect you bothersome box," he growled to himself, forcing the new code into the system. The blue wires slowly accumulated around the little blue box, connecting themselves with a little help from the meddler. "This is not good…" Sour Bill murmured, not heard over the maniac's giggling.  
The invader started to swim again. He wasn't erratically snapping wires now. He avoided most of them, actually. There had been a chest floating around and occasionally bumping into boxes, but now the stranger had retrieved it and was pulling it along with him. Barely looking at the other boxes, he was only focused on two of the glowing containers. Memories. Bill realized. He's going to do something to our memories! He leaned forward, willing this madness to stop, but the figure just kept swimming closer and closer with the chest.

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_Thanks for reading and don't forget to review with your critique, opinions, and suggestions! (Oh, and my computer crashed again, so I'm not sure when the next one will be up. I only have one or two pre-written from here on, so updates may be few and far between... Guess who isn't a happy camper? This writer.)_


	6. Chapter 6

_Guess who's back! I'm so sorry I haven't updated at all. I've been ridiculously busy lately, and this is my last pre-written chapter. Luckily for all of you, I'm on Spring Break, so I'll try to get at _least_ one more chapter up before the week is up!_

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**Chapter 6**

Vanellope, having just regained consciousness, was stumbling down the hall. Sweet Martha hadn't returned, yet the young ruler could tell that more damage had been done. Not just to her either, the whole game seemed wrong. The pink hall stretched before her. "What is wrong with the code?" she muttered angrily, "If something happened to my subjects…" Then she stopped, blinking. "What's going on? Why am I in the… Uh, the castle?" The girl shrugged it off and kept walking down the hall. "I'm sure someone can tell me why I'm in here. Maybe the uh…" That was odd. Who ruled this game anyway? _Probably a girl, with all this pink around_, she reasoned. "I guess I'll just have to find out from someone…"

* * *

Moments earlier… The racers were crowded into the pink hallway. "I feel like a Swedish Fish!" Jubileena groaned. "Shush, we have to find the princess!" Snowanna chided. "Yeah, come on guys," Taffyta said rushing ahead, "We have to… Uh…" She turned around to look at the others, "What are we doing in this hall anyway?" Crumbelina gave her a worried look, "Taffy, we're looking for the, uh…" "The throne room?" Candlehead suggested. "That's it!" Gloyd smiled, "I got this, guys, follow me!" The group gave him various skeptical looks. "How do you know where the throne room is?" He grinned back at them, "Prankster's secret." Rancis punched the Halloween boy in the arm, "Fine, joker, lead on!" They ran, laughing down the hall until a voice stopped them. "Excuse me?"

Taffyta, along with the rest of the children, turned around to stare at the girl who had spoken. "Um, hi. Could you tell me who's in charge here?" Taffyta scoffed, "Well that's, um," She paused and then her eyes brightened, "King Candy!" The other girl blinked, "Oh, of course! Could I see him? I think I hit my head back that way…" she gestured back at the hall, rubbing her head self-consciously. "You poor thing," Snowanna came up to her, "Don't worry hon, we'll take you to see him." The little girl grinned at the racers, "It's Vanellope, by the way." "Snowanna," she smiled, squeezing the lost girl's hand and leading her into the middle of the group. The children bustled down the hall in search of the king.

* * *

Sour Bill stood at the entrance of the vault. King Candy was swimming around in the code. No doubt he was making sure that everything was running properly after their first day. Everything seemed to going well, but something felt, _off_. Something was missing, something… important. The candy servant's brow furrowed. If he concentrated hard, SB was sure that he could just remember, "Thour Bill!" the king lisped. "Your highness," the candy said, bowing. What had he been thinking about? "Come Thour Bill, we need to congratulate the racers!" The king was nearly flying with all the sugar in his system. "Your majesty, I'm stuck…" the servant trailed off. "Oh, I'm thorry Thour Bill! You are in quite the thicky thituation!" The king jumped up, laughing at his own joke. He grabbed the green candy's feet and pulled him away from the licorice rope.

As he was stretched, Sour Bill couldn't see anything but code. King Candy's box was in the center and the racer's boxes were surrounding it. He couldn't read the smaller labels, but off to the side, far from the rest of the code, was a flickering blue box. "Vanellope Von Schweetz," it proclaimed. That didn't seem right to the stuck servant, but before he could ponder the loose box, he was sent flying. "Oof!" he grunted, hitting the floor. "Thorry!" King Candy ran past SB, "To the throne room!" Sour Bill scrambled after the king, groaning.

* * *

Vanellope walked along with the rest of the group. They were all very excitable. She probably would have been too if she didn't feel so awful. "_What did I do back there?_" she wondered. "Almost there!" called Gloyd, who had been acting like a sneak for the past ten minutes. "We better be," mumbled Crumbelina. Gloyd stuck his tongue out at the fancy racer and turned the corner. "See! I told you!" "It's King Candy!" Taffyta hollered, running up with a huge smile. King Candy looked up, "What?" he grumbled, "Oh it's my thubjects! I was wondering why you all wandered off." His air of hilarity had returned. "We had to help out a fellow racer," Swizzle nodded his head to the back of the group. The racers parted to show Vanellope. "Hello your highness," she said, nervously waving.

King Candy sucked in his breath. "_How had she survived? They obviously didn't remember her, but still…_" His brow furrowed. "Who is that?" Vanellope's face contorted into a very conflicted expression. "I'm Vanellope. Von Schweetz," she introduced herself again. The children didn't know how to react to the king's question. "She's a racer isn't she?" Candlehead inquired. Snowanna and Jubileena both opened up their mouths to scold the flaky cake racer, but King Candy started first. "She's not in the code." Sour Bill gave his king a hard look. "What?" The children asked in unison. "But I'm a racer." "No, you aren't," the usually cheery king projected. "But I am!" she yelled. Suddenly the young girl burst out in blue pixels. When she was whole again she was sitting on the floor, her eyes wide.

The racers backed up with a collective gasp. There was silence for a moment before they broke out into worried muttering. "That isn't normal. Can you do that? This isn't good. What is she? I'm scared." The king shushed them with a shout. "Quiet!" They stared at their ruler, even Vanellope, who was hugging her legs. Anything to keep her grounded. "You aren't a normal little girl, are you?" The king started. "I…" Blue binary burst out. "I don't know…" Cobalt code fizzled across her costume. "Well you can't be." The racers and servants watched, wide-eyed. "But I must be…" Tears welled at the edges of her eyes. "Why else would I be in the game?" The frown seemed to grow on the candied king's face. "I don't know how to tell you this." He took off his crown and rubbed the top of his shiny head. "But you're a glitch."

* * *

"A… a glitch?" Vanellope whispered. "But I can't be a, a… One of those." The king's brow furrowed even more. "But you are, my dear." Vanellope looked at the racers, who were now standing a good distance back in a circle around her. "You guys don't think I'm a glitch, do you?" Rancis shuffled his feet. "Well you aren't a normal racer." "I say we give her a chance!" It was Taffyta. "Yeah!" Candlehead volunteered. After a moment of hesitation, the rest of the girls chorused their approval. "Let her race! Everyone deserves a chance. Wouldn't you want to try?" Vanellope blushed as these almost-strangers defended her right to race. "What do you want to do?" Gloyd asked. "I want to race!" she shouted. She hopped to her feet. "So what if I'm a glitch? I can be a racer too!"

"_This isn't good_…" thought the sugary king. "Well I thuppose…" he muttered. There must be a way to turn them against the resilient little brat. "I'm gonna race!" Vanellope jumped up and hugged her defenders. "Thank you all so much! This is so sweet! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she yelled, jumping up and down. "But firtht, we should have a practith rathe," King Candy corrected himself. "What? But we all know how to race!" The ruler smiled, "But Vanellope hasn't raced before, have you?" Shaking her head, she shrugged, "I guess not." "Then we'll use the pedal practice carts!" A sinister grin spread across the king's face. He had an idea. An awful idea. The king had a wonderful awful idea.

* * *

The racers were ecstatic about the practice race. There was even a special track for the pedal-powered speedsters. They didn't have much customization. They just had light pastel colors for each racer plus a few generic ones. The children quickly claimed their vehicles, and Vanellope chose a generic teal buggy. King Candy's voice echoed around the game, "Thith ith a practithe rathe with the thuper excluthive foot fueled karths! A thpecial guest racer for today's rathe is Vanellope Von Thweetz!" Vanellope beamed. "Ready," the king's voice boomed, causing everyone to focus on the track. "Set," the racers readied themselves for the fastest peddling of their lives. "And," the group was nearly bursting with excitement. "Go!"

Despite the fact that they were driving pedal-powered carts, the racers were off to a very fast start, probably from all the sugar in the sweet game. Adorabeezle fell back right at the beginning, along with Jubileena and Crumbelina. Snowanna stayed in for a bit longer than the last trio, but eventually she and Gloyd had to pull over as well. The Swizz and Minty had awesome stamina, but they both lost control on a slippery slope, spinning out of control and crashing into each other. Now the only racers left were Taffyta, Candlehead, Rancis, and Vanellope. "Milky Way," a sign proclaimed in huge icing letters.

"You're going down Vanellope!" Taffyta yelled. "We'll see about that, Berry Brains!" Taffyta blinked at the comeback. "Hey!" she yelled as the teal racer passed her. "Ranics! Candlehead! Let's get her!" she yelled, giggling and joking as they all passed each other over and over again. Rounding a corner, Rancis and Candlehead, who were jockeying for the lead, gasped. A huge waterfall was just up the track. Except it wasn't water, it was milk. Candlehead, not thinking of where she was, tried to turn around and avoid the Milky Way's namesake, but instead her cart smashed into Rancis' little brown pedal-powered cart. They skidded off the track and crashed into the cookie barrier. Now it was only Taffyta and Vanellope.

* * *

_What will happen next! Only I know! Muahahahaha... Sorry, too good to resist. I was originally going to split this into two, but I decided to give you a fat chapter instead of two measly little morsels. Don't forget to review/comment/follow/do whatever you want I'm just an author. Ta-ta for now!_


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